A guest comes to stay

Last week we had a little Nora come visit for a few days.  Jo organised a bike rental for her from Tiree Fitness and I trotted down to collect her from the airport.

The weather was sunny, but a cool wind so I took Pippa down for a walk too.  We weren't there long before the familiar little Twin Otter landed and our Nora descended the steps.

After a good greeting from the dog and a giggle at the rollers that make up Tiree airport's luggage "carousel" we were off.  Madam doglet had plans though, as we were walking out of the car park Madam crossed infront of me and stopped, turns out I can still somersault if needed, I can also keep hold of the dog's leash while doing so.  One scraped knee, two bruised heels of hands and a bruised elbow later we were again on the move.

As the weather was dry Nora dropped her bags, had a quick lunch and went off adventuring, inadvertently cycling approximately 9 miles.  She did have a sit and watch the sea for a bit too.

That evening we had a bit of a giggle when Jo got home.  You see, I'm about 5'10", Jo's about 5'7", Nora is bang on 5'.  We had her put on my coat and hat...


On the plus side, if she ever needs a coat that will keep her whole body dry we know what to get!


We cleared off the futon in the spare room, this meant moving my giant stuffed dogs, the larger of which could be Nora's dance partner...



A good few days were had by all.  I helped with some knitting lessons? Issues?  Technicalities possibly, we also got Nora happily knitting on double-pointed needles and able to count rows.  The first part of that was especially amazing considering I initially started her going the wrong way (oops).

The brave, brave soul decided to also go for a swim, not a paddle, a swim, in the sea.  She did indeed manage, even though a big dark cloud came by, and even brought some of the beach back in her ears.

I have some videos from the weekend, but they're rather big files so will have to wait for our internet to stabilise, it's being a bit moody at the moment.

Nora mentioned that a friend had a daughter who's birthday was coming up and she wanted to knit something for the kidlet but wasn't sure.  She'd brought the yarn with her so I did a pattern search and knit this little item for the kidlet this weekend:



It'll be going in the post this week.


I've had quite the good knitting week.  I finished this pair of rainbow socks:

These were my "waiting time killer" knitting and actually, about 75% of the knitting time was in the doctor's waiting room.  Well, can't say I wasn't being productive.

I've also started this brightly coloured pair:


The yarn is a sport weight from America, it's giving a lovely fabric and I love how the colours are striping for me.

Tuesday saw a meeting of the SWRI (Scottish Women's Rural Institute) where members were encouraged to bring friends to try and get new members.  Our neighbour's mother is a knitter of beautiful shetland lace and lured me there with mention of teaching me the secrets.  It was an amusing evening with some insight into how it all works and items of people's craftwork to admire.  I was seriously considering joining and then I got post on Thursday, someone had anonymously paid my membership!  So I am now a member of the SWRI on Tiree and look forward to joining in.  I even have an idea of what to contribute to the community project for the show next year.  There are also quite a few classes where I could make something...oh the possibilities!

Anyway, sorry for the disjointedness of this post, I seem to be failing at English today.

Until next week, adieu.

Fur, silk and acrylic

This week was a bit of a mixed bag weather wise.  Madam went from hiding under her blankie;



To cooking gently



Fortunately it meant I got to do some laundry, including washing this log cabin baby blanket:



I did briefly consider making it bigger, but that last side removed that temptation.  It was going to go to the crafters' baby pile but...well, I'm being a little selfish and keeping it for our future kid(s). 

The weather went very "dreich" (I'm sure I spelled that wrong!) as the Scots say, lots of mist and low cloud lead to no plane for two days.  The weather also meant the Thursday ferry skipped going to Barra so it left late and fortunately was able to bring over that day's post.

Saturday was good though, thank goodness!  Madam had run out of painkillers the day before so we were dearly hoping the new ones would arrive, they did and she swore at Joseph for being too slow at feeding her.  How grateful she is! (note sarcasm)


See the black lump on the bottom left of that blanket photo?  It turned into this in the wee small hours of Friday:


Close up of one panel:



Blowing in the wind:


On me.  (I have a 2m armspan, this thing is wide)


After taking the above photos I went to check on the ferrets.  Fred was doing his favourite trick:  Front end in the food bowl while stuffing his face:



That's an 8" wide food dish he has his feet in.  Apologies for his scruffy look, he's 6yo and moulting ready for Winter, that's his summer fluff looking all ratty.  Ferrets can live up to 12yo, but Fred is very inbred so his chances are iffy, not that he cares.

My little Sister-in-law is visiting this week and has forewarned me she is bringing knitting to be helped with.  Must make sure the futon can be extended without hitting umpteen things first.

Anyhoo, life continues along with happiness.  TTFN.

22 hours later

My parents came up for the day yesterday, apparently it took a fair bit out of me because I needed 22 hours of sleep to recover.

However, it was a great day.  No photos, sorry, I was enjoying the day and forgot to even grab the camera before we headed out.

I did some research before the 'rents came up and we had a nice afternoon planned.  They had a stupendously early morning wake up to get the ferry, it left at quarter to six in the morning.  Fortunately our driver for the day (Dad) managed a nice nap on the ferry, Mum was amused too.  They had a good sail over, mirror smooth until past Mull and then only slight rolling.  Mum kept her breakfast so it can't have been too bad.

We spent the morning chatting at home, catching up on life and family while Pippa got lots of attention from Dad and enjoyed some new toys.  She demolished two tennis balls and fair shredded a rope toy too.  She too was worn out today, Jo didn't hear a peep out of her until she wanted to go to bed.

The afternoon was fab!

First was a visit to Blue Beyond.  I've had a few island friends say they would "kidnap" me and take me, so I took the advantage and we went as a family.  Dad stayed with the car (he's not a major art aficionado) and took a stroll along the road a bit.  Mum and I had to carry our jaws.  WOW!

I'd been  told the lady who does most of the work for sale is skilled but...wow.  She takes fabric and painted boards and makes the most amazingly colourful and realistic work.  If Mum or I even come into a lot of money we'll be going there and buying the place out!  There was also some stained glass that just begged to come home and bring colour to our windows.  I did resist, but only because my work money was already earmarked.  Mum spent some dosh though, an approximately 18" square piece and a smaller card one plus some printed cards to use as notelets.  Honestly, if you ever visit Tiree, go to blue beyond!  Even if you're not naturally an art fanatic you'll be amazed at the skill.

Next was a trip to Tiree Glass.  I'd been once with Alan and the Tiree Tech Wave gang, so I knew that even though Mum wasn't a huge glass fan she'd like it, and she did.  The lady who usually does the work was off teaching a course and I made an oops thinking the lady who was shop-sitting was her, fortunately I was forgiven.  In all fairness, I'd knocked on the wrong door (their house is next to the studio) so I was a tad flustered.

The studio is lovely, high roof, big windows, lots of space to show off the pieces.  Mum purchased a little glass star.  Amsuingly, of the three things she purchased she was only sure of keeping one, turns out a relative of ours is having their 60th soonish so Mum is dithering over what to send.

Then we went off to Chocolates and Charms so Mum could get more choccies from there.  We'd visited when they came up back in May so that was on Mum's to-do list from the start.

Alas, Beachcomber had closed the day before so that was missed again.  But I did get to visit with Fiona and Jane, so I've seen it this year at least.

After all that adventure (Tiree tracks plus short car plus three bods = adventure) we took a turn at the Resource Centre.  It was home to the various weekly and more regular groups to meet without being charged a huge sum but the body renting it had to give it back today so all the groups had to up sticks.  Cue a fortnight of sorting and then yesterday's big sale.  Stuff the groups didn't really want to find storage for but thought someone may want. The parental units came away with some books they'd not tried, I came away with a latch hook kit (I've not finished the other one that size), a knitting machine that might do sock blanks for me, a scrabble deluxe (turntable and score-keeping racks) and some other little bits.

We then came back home, had some more chatting and napping, relaxed, and then headed out for dinner.

What a dinner!

My parents stayed at the Scarinish Hotel and I had reserved us a table for the evening.  I admit, I was nosey and popped up to see the room they were in, rather nice, full ensuite, nice crisp room, very nice resting spot.  The guests also have a lounge with bar, sea view terrace and entertainment for all ages.

The restaurant had a varied menu, largely fishy things but also pizza, pasta, all sorts really.  We had a variety of starters including mushroom tart, mackerel teriyaki, pate and soup.  Mains saw two pizzas, fish and chips and pasta and pudding was divine.  Two apple crumbles with a shared pot of cream and two raspberry and white choc cheesecakes.  Yes, I snaffled some of Jo's cheesecake, yes it was lovely.

After typing that I understand why I slept 22 hours, heh.

A fantastic end to the week and the month.  I've got some ideas buzzing around my head for September, and I will try to update this at least once a week.

Anyway, Dad bought me a new radio that can pick up more than BBC Alba and Radio 1 so I'm going to go read the manual for that and have a play.

Night night.

Shawl progression

This week yours truly has been knitting up a storm, well, actually, just knitting a lot.  I've been participating in the Ravellenic Games.

The Ravellenic Games are hosted on Ravelry, they happen during the time of the Olympics and encourage folks to push themselves in their crafting pursuits.  In my case, I joined in a knit-a-long of a gorgeous lace shawl in doubleknit weight yarn called "Tsuga".  It took me 5.1 balls of yarn, approximately 628yds and a fair few beads (exact count to be fathomed in future).

The shawl was released in 4 "clues", each using about the same amount of yarn in theory.
This is the end of Clue 1:


Clue 2:


Clue 3 didn't get photographed, what with it looking like, and here I quote my husband, "the fleece of a particularly pretty sheep".

Clue 4 done, and shawl bound off but unblocked:


That was last night.  20:30 GMT on the 9th August 2012.  It then went to soak in a bucket of water and "non distilled condiment" (vinegar) for a few hours:


After that it was removed from the bucket (mon dieu!), the bulk of the water squeezed out, then the shawl was plonked in a bag, two cups of dye were poured in, the whole thing was mushed until all the cream was blue, then the bag was steamed for 25 minutes and left to cool overnight.

This morning I got up, rinsed all the excess dye out (not much), then got to blocking.  Thank goodness for blocking wires!  Thread them through your edge stitches and you get a lovely straight edge with only 4 pins rather than 40.

Blocking: (the ruler at the top is 36" long)


As it's a wonderful day here on Tiree, it dried in about 2 hours.  Here is the finished article:




And my ugly mug.  I really must smile more often!  this looks more like a grimace.

(the ends have been cut off after being woven in, I assure you)

So, that's the progression of a lace shawl.  Knit lots, soak, dye if wanted, block and dry, enjoy!

I'm calling this one "Tiree Tsuga" as a friend pointed out it has the blues of sky and sea, and she's right, all the blues we get here on Tiree.

Ah, apparently I failed to share these two photos:

Our back view now I've hacked the bush there into cooperation:





That path wasn't useable before, you had to detour onto the grass by about three feet to get round.  Now, it can be used.

This is the carnage from all that trimming:


Madam had a go at it, video was taken and I shall upload.  But right now, I go to prepare for Friday knitters :)

just a little post

Just a little post to share some photos...


My peg looming, this one is where I just changed colours when I felt like it.


This one I alternated which colour went over the central peg.


We've had sunshine!  Madam cooked herself happily


food?



An early morning walk allowed us to catch this rainbow


It seems July/August is the time for purple flowers...these tiny little ones and...


Thistles!


So, what do you get when you combine these with a husband and an active imagination?


balancing acts!




The bottles did survive, even with yours truly stood atop, although some lids were very flat topped afterwards.

Anyway, I have ravellenic knitting to do.  TTFN.

Busy weekend

This past weekend (starting with Friday the 20th, ending Sunday the 22nd) was one heck of a busy weekend!

Friday was the agricultural show.  A chance for the locals and visitors to show off their animals and their handicrafts.  While I did take photos of animals, I completely forgot to take the camera to the handicrafts tent, oops!

Giant horses




This black one was apparently being moody.


Jo and I loved these little ponies, they were pretty much barrels with legs.


A very warm ram


Highland calf



Saturday and Sunday were afternoons only, so I did get some kip.  I was helping out with showing off weaving, this is the table with the little looms that attracted a young girl (well, nearly 11yo) who pretty much spent the whole TMF (Tiree Music Festival) weaving with us.  She has a real thing for neons, the yellow and the multineon are mine that I donated so I told her to keep them, she was so thrilled with the brightness!






Every time the big loom came free she was on and adding to the banner.


Jane having a play


Proof men can weave


So can kiddiwinks


In fact, any age!















Much fun was had, many hands took up a shuttle and wove.  Sunday 6pm was the grand reveal!

Fiona carefully releasing the banner, all 2.69m (I think I remember that correctly)


Going from right to left, the start:


The end:


The whole banner, closer and in more sections:

















Even the birdies were being artistic at the weekend!  I saw this deposit on the window and just had to get a photo.


This week has been me recovering.  I've also discovered a liking for very milky coffee which is having some interesting effects (I can finally sleep like a log, but the timing is still off).

Tomorrow evening the-games-that-cannot-be-named start and so do the Ravellenics!  I need to swatch the shawl to check I like the fabric and I could really do with finishing the scarf sitting next to me to free up a cable and tips.

I've got photos of my peg weaving from the TMF weekend, but you'll have to wait for those, my PC went on the fritz (power supply went wonky and corrupted my Windows install quite impressively) so I've reinstalled Windows AGAIN, backed up a clean install this time, after spending 6 hours sitting with updates.  So I'm not really in the mood for image adjusting.  oooh, I do have some videos...

Jo flying the kite:


Me flying the kite (with Jo's sarky comments)



Finally, a little video by Jo of night on Tiree.